Greek Yoghourt Pancakes with Pomegranate Seeds

Greek Yoghourt Pancakes with pomegranate seeds

Breakfast at work? Really? You see these people and think, “Sheeeesh! They should have eaten before they got in.” Who’s kidding who here? Eating at work first thing in the morning becomes a bad habit. Make it worth the effort.

My friend Emily has a bit of a breakfast problem. Emily taught me that breakfast can be the best meal of the day. The answer appears to be a definite yes.

GREEK YOGHOURT PANCAKES WITH POMEGRANATE SEEDS

Turns out there’s a blog by a woman names Erin Shubert “A New Bloom.” Erin appears to be a photographer and her pancakes completely inspired Em today. Erin says on her site, “I’m a big fan of greek yogurt. I love the texture, the richness and the way it instantly fills me up. But it’s also versatile and can be used in baking and cooking alike. So when my friend Jessica recommended a greek yogurt pancake recipe, I was immediately sold.

“And this recipe is truly a testament to how a simple ingredient swap can change everything.They’re surprisingly healthy and provide that all-important protein in the morning to keep you full all the way to lunch and beyond. I had a few pomegranates handy and thought they would make a yummy addition to the batter. I was right.”

Greek Yoghourt Pancakes with Pomegranate Seeds

1/2 c all-purpose (or whole wheat) flour

1 T sugar

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 c Greek Yogurt

2 large eggs

1/2 t vanilla extract

2 T milk

1/2 c pomegranate seeds

Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, soda, and salt) and then add the greek yogurt until blended. In a separate bowl, add the wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla extract, and milk) and whisk. Once blended, pour the wet ingredients into the batter and mix all together.

Pomegranate and Pancakes? Yes!

Heat a cast-iron skillet over low heat and spray with cooking spray. I made 1/4 cup pancakes and got about 8 out of the batch (if you make bigger plate-sized pancakes, expect to get around 4 or 5). The ones I made ended up being sand dollar sized.

Pour batter and wait until the top starts to bubble and flip (these pancakes burn easily, so keep a watchful eye and keep that heat low). Serve immediately with a little maple syrup and fresh fruit.

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L'Intrepide: Easy Red

This terrifically easy to drink Côtes du Rhône GSM red sits atop my wine-friendly wines list.

2009 Domaine du Bois de Saint Jean

90 pt Wine Advocate, 15% alcohol, $10.99

It’s made of 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre, 5% Cinsault, basically what most of you may be familiar when drinking Aussie GSM wines. I discovered this wine at BELL’S GRAND WINE TASTING amongst 50 other wines great and small. You go to a Bell’s tasting and you inevitably taste a few wines you only realize the next day are overly hot or wildly vinified. The French appear to be trying to get on the wine money bus in the new world. French fine wine is pricey, earthy, and not fruit forward or new world palette-friendly. French export wine is usually not as much fun as Aussie, Argentinian or similar cheap wine thrills out there.

So enters 2009 Domaine du Bois de Saint Jean. The wine pourer assured me this is an off-label Chateauneuf du Pape. My friend Muffy introduced me to the infallibility of CndP’s back in the ’80s when I was at law school. She salvaged my sense of what is worth drinking in old world wines. But now for half the price is this little “Tuesday night wine.”

Served with grilled lamb chops or a rich red sauce, the GSM sings a fun song over the garlicky meal you lay in front of it. Both pasta and lamb are tough for microwave reheating, but I microwaved my lunch and after some skillful playing around and getting to know your microwave’s capabilities, you can make better microwaved meals. Treat your lunch as if it’s a dinner–savor it and make this GSM a part of it.

This wine enjoys a warm, silky mouthful and a fun, lilting, sing-song feeling of a red wine you could drink event without food. It’s not noticeably oaky and thrives in the Grenache that makes it so smooth. The 15% Mourvèdre makes it a wine with shape and then the 5% Cinsault gives it a touch of character. But overall, it is too hot (high in alcohol) and too easy to drink.

Be careful to sip only!

Addendum for today’s post: cool blog alert! Arrow Wines has great tips on how to drink and enjoy wine. CHECK IT OUT, subscribe to the RSS today.

- See more at: http://www.alunchboxblog.com/2009-domaine-du-bois-de-saint-jean/?preview=true&preview_id=891&preview_nonce=8d5253769a#sthash.ywn8UD4g.dpuf

Bar Dupont: a Local "Find"

Bar Dupont

1500 New Hampshire Avenue,
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 797-0169

2009 Sterling Sauvignon Blanc
Mendocino

You see, I had the pleasure of having a little time to myself after the launch of my company’s premier product this January. Walking home on an unseasonably warm January day in the sunshine, I strolled through Chinatown by the White House and then up past the former “Occupy Washington” encampment.

It was a thrilling winter day in so far as it was warm and lovely. We’ll be having a snowstorm tonight after midnight, so I suppose I felt the need to appreciate what I had when I had it.

At any rate, I sat in the window of my favorite stylish little boutiquey joint on Dupont Circle. It’s a total find for out-of-towners and even locals who normally wouldn’t think to go to a hotel for a drink, particularly at 5 p.m. on a weeknight. I mean, sitting on a hemispherical banquette in a hemispherical bar surrounded with plate-glass windows and nibbling the happy hour nuts and wasabi peas makes for a great hour of self-reflection and blogging

Zipping Past as I sit at my Hemispherical Banquet

Usually the servers here just leave me alone, but today, wow, pressure to buy a drink. Pressure, pressure, pressure! And normally I’d have resisted.  They often let me just sit and blog for a couple of hours, but I took the bait.

I have to admit Bar Dupont (in the Jury Hotel by the Doyle Collection) is not tops on the best wines by the glass list in the city. I have struggled for years here hoping to get a wine that’s worth $11 plus a tip and tax not included. Finally! They have something in stock worth the trip: 2009′s Sterling Sauvignon Blanc.

• Stonefruit, ripe melon, and figs.
• Terrific, straightforward bright flavor without all the pain of the wincing grapefruity citrusy New Zealand Sauv Blancs.
• California has been really getting these Sancerre-styled whites right and there is no better environment than The Dupont Circle Hotel’s front room, Bar Dupont, to taste them in.

Must admit, it’s the space that makes the glass as inviting as it is.  Normally, I’d purchase a bottle of this and look for something more unique, but whether you are seated in the terrific outside seating area under the heat lamps or walking up to the big-ass grand door that looks like it’s just part of the wall, it’s a trip worth making.

Exterior Door of Bar Dupontn

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Alice Water, Meet Thomas Keller: Little Gems Salad

Out of THOMAS KELLER’S AD HOC COOK BOOK comes his terrific Little Gem salad which he dresses like a rarefied iceberg wedge salad with lardon (a French-go-to, thick-cut bacon), homemade croutons, oven roasted tomatoes, and the very best buttermilk ranch dressing I’ve ever had. I’ve made this so many times now, I’m a pro. But it takes getting used to. 

For the dressing, I make the mayonnaise and then prepare the rest of the dressing by finely chopping the mint and parsley. It’s not super easy to do, but setting it up in little containers before I leave for work, it ships well to work and sits on the plate in the kitchen at the office like a grand feast. And it’s only a salad!

Here’s how I do it.

First I make the croutons:

Making Alice Waters' Croutons for Tommy Boy's Salad

Alice Waters’ Croutons

HER CROUTONS COME FROM HER THE ART OF SIMPLE FOOD. This book is really a reader, not a cookbook. I feel that like Julia Child, you learn from her here as if she is telling a story, not making recipes. I love her style here. Read this book, and get a sense of how to purchase food, how to have a pantry that is full of useful treats, and how to prevent food in your fridge from becoming rotten before you get around to it.

Salad Building Blocks

One of the things that you can salvage is French bread. I’m not a huge bread eater. Two pieces in the morning is sufficient, although fresh bread I could eat all day. Once it’s no longer fresh, just shear off the crusts and then cut into your favorite crouton dice.

Alice prefers torn pieces that she then tosses in oil. As she tries to make sound easy, “Fry little cubed croutons in butter to strew atop a delicate pureed soup.” Well, when it comes to these croutons, just toast them after you toss with olive oil. No need to be extra virgin, you just want them to brown with some oil and dried herbs never hurt
(1/2-1 t dill weed or try combining 1/2 t basil and 1/2 t tarragon), roll the croutons in the oil, place on a cookie tray, toast in a hot oven, flip, and brown. Keep an eye on these, then pull out. If you are only in possession of a toaster oven, you can do these easily in a small toaster over pan. In fact, it’s easier than in the big oven.

At any rate, the oven roasted tomatoes can be subbed out by purchasing them at Whole Foods. But if it’s end of season in October, you can roast your own. As Keller says so blithely, 12 plum tomatoes, 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil, 3 sprigs of thyme, kosher salt and pepper. At 200 degree, slow roast them in a baking sheet lined with foil for six hours or until they are shrunk and dried. Cut the tomatoes in half, place cut side up on the lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil, scatter with the thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper. These are handy afterwards, because when you chop them for the salad, you may find you have left overs. The leftovers work in other recipes of his, so you can create entirely new meals as you finish this step.

Ranch Dressing Drops

Makes about 2 cups of dressing

Buttermilk Dressing

1/4 – 1/2 c buttermilk

1/2 c creme fraiche

1 t finely minced onion

1 garlic clove minced

3/4 t lemon juice

1 t finely minced fresh chives

1 t fresh flat leaf parsley

1 t minced fresh mint (or, I’ve found you can use fresh dill in place of)

1 c mayo (Homemade is so surprisingly easy; according to Julia Child, it’s two egg yolks at room temperature, with a pinch of salt, quickly processed in the food processor; then when sticky, add in 2T lemon juice and 1/4 t Dijon or powdered mustard. Process for another 10-30 seconds; then drizzle in through the mayo hole on the top of the food processor 1-1 1/2 c oil. I use olive oil. It’s more yellow than most mayo, so don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize it!)

• Stir everything together. 
• Done. 
• Love that part. 

If it is too thick, slowly add in more buttermilk, until it’s the consistency you like. You can also make it into blue cheese dressing if you skip the dill and add in 1 1/2 c crumble blue cheese (about 8 ounces worth). I seem to recall that classic American ranch dressing used dill. At least it did when I was a kid. I have tweaked his recipe by using fresh minced onion and fresh garlic. I cannot imagine why these need to be powder as he recommends.

At any rate, arrange the salad on the plate–and again, this works really well with iceberg lettuce, but he recommends the Little Gems–and sprinkle with some STRAIGHT-OUT-OF-THE-FRYING-PAN BACON LARDON.

Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

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Quinoa Salad

Quinoa can be a really odd salad. Laura’s Lunch Bunch salad this week is amazing. The odd mix of Aztec grain, cucumber, green pepper, garbanzo beans, chives, and lemon give this hearty lettuce topper makes this lunchtime veg-fest pop.

As you may have already read on this blog, nothing gets my taste buds more excited than vegetables that are made more memorably than meat-based entrées. Laura’s salad is one of those rare gems.

Here’s how to make a tangy, perfect vegetable melange for your Tuesday.

Ingredients

2 c chicken stock

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c uncooked quinoa, rinsed

1 large red onion, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

1/2 c chopped kalamata olives

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cchopped fresh chives

1/2 t salt

1 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 cextra virgin olive oil

Crumbled feta cheese

Sliced lemons for squeezing over the salad

Directions

Bring the stock and garlic to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape the quinoa into a large bowl.

Gently stir the onion, bell pepper, olives, parsley, chives, and salt into the quinoa. Toss with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Stir until evenly mixed. Serve cold.

Plate the salad and squeeze seeded lemon slices over the top. Sprinkle with crumbled feta, et viola!

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